INTRODUCTION
Background
His smaller edition of the NT appeared in 1831, the 3rd edition in 1846, and the larger second edition, in two volumes between 1842 and 1850. The plan of Lachmann's edition, which he explained in his Studia Krit. of 1830, is a modification of the unaccomplished project of Richard Bentley.
Lachmann was the first major editor to break from the Textus Receptus (standard Traditional text), seeking to restore the most ancient reading from manuscripts of the Alexandrian text-type, using the agreement of the Western authorities (Old Latin and Greek Western Uncials) as the main proof of antiquity of a reading where the oldest Alexandrian authorities differ.
Lachmann on John 8:1-11
Lachmann's
Critical Greek NT (1831)Greek Text of John, (p.183)
Verse numbers embedded, less useful line numbers on right.
Jn 7:52 ends on line 21, and Jn 8:12 begins a new paragraph on line 22. No acknowledgement or footnote is even made about the omission of the PA (Jn 7:53-8:11). Lachmann does not even place the passage at the end of the Gospel or NT.
The lack of any introduction or explanation for the many undocumented omissions and changes, as well as the absence of footnotes or a translation made Lachmann's publication almost useless, and also unsuccessful: Just a year prior, the Scholz Greek NT text had already been published, having both extensive footnotes and an English translation in the margin, making it a high quality book useful to students.
